A comparison of prednisolone with azathioprine and prednisolone with intramuscular gold in rheumatoid arthritis.

Pulse prednisolone hemisuccinate therapy (500 mg given intravenously on three occasions over two weeks) has been combined with either intramuscular sodium aurothiomalate or azathioprine in an assessment of 30 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Significant improvement in a variety of clinical and biochemical assessments was seen in both groups. Both treatments were well tolerated by the patients and prednisolone appeared to accelerate the response to sodium aurothiomalate and azathioprine but there was no great evidence that it enhanced it.